Gharnef
Gharnef is an evil sorcerer and the main antagonist of both Archanea games and their remakes as well as Tokyo Mirage Sessions ♯FE, apparently, but someone who's played the game will need to elaborate on that one. History Gharnef and Miloah were once Gotoh's students, but when it came time to p down the Aura tome, Gotoh chose Miloah over Gharnef. This angered Gharnef, who stole the Darksphere. With it, he created Imhullu, a tome that made him invulnerable to all. From here, he crafted a plan to take over the entire continent of Archanea. First, he killed Miloah and became the ruler of Khadein, kingdom of the wizards. However, Linde, Miloah's daughter, received the Aura tome. Gharnef sent his men after her, forcing her into hiding. Additionally, since Gharnef knew that a spell crafted by the Lightsphere and Starsphere could stop him, he brainwashed Tiki and had her guard the Starsphere. At some point, he also brainwashed the owner of an orphanage so that she'd raise ins or something. With all that out of the way, he set his plan into motion. He revived the Earth Dragon Medeus, and with him the empire of Dolhr, and convinced Michalis that Minerva was to be made the heir of Macedon's throne instead of him, which prompted Michalis to kill his father and ascend to the throne immediately. Shadow Dragon Now that Gharnef was ready, he joined the allied nations of Dolhr, Grust, Gra, and Macedon as they worked together to take over the continent. He took part in the invasion of Altea and captured Elice, the princess, so that he could gain access to the Aum Staff. However, his main reason for showing up was to take Falchion, the weapon Anri had once used to slay Medeus. Additionally, in the OVA, Gharnef personally killed King Cornelius. Once Altea had fallen, only Archanea and Aurelis remained, but Gharnef was never actually worried. He let the way play out for two years before Marth, the prince of Altea, took command of the Archanean League and killed King Jiol of Gra. As Khadein was on the way back to Altea, Marh decided to try to oust Gharnef then and there and reclaim Falchion. However, all of the nearby villagers warned Marth against this, and once Gharnef actually showed up on the battlefield, he decimated Marth's army without a scratch. Gharnef would've won then and there, but his plan wasn't impacted one way or the other whether Marth was alive, and he decided that he had better things to do with his time, so he left. Marth, however, refused to give up. With help from Gotoh and Bantu, he was able to free Tiki from her brainwashing and craft the tome Starlight, which any mage in his army could wield. Marth marched on Gharnef, confident, only for Gharnef to reveal that Marth had been helping him all along. Marth had collected the Regalia and other legendary weapons among his army, and he'd killed both Camus and Michalis, the two largest threats to Gharnef's plan. Now, all Gharnef had to do was kill Marth, and between Imhullu, Falchion, and a continent without leaders, he'd easily take over the entire world. Even though Marth seemingly posed no threat, Gharnef created copies, each with a fake Falchion. Death and Aftermath Unfortunately for Gharnef, the Starlight-wielding mage, presumably Linde because she's the only one with a personal connection to Gharnef, slew him, and Marth, with the help of the Falchion, ultimately killed Medeus. With his dying breath, he cursed Marth. However, this wasn't the end of Gharnef. Even though his body was gone, he was able to seal his soul in the Darksphere and wait for a chance for revenge. During the three-year interim, a group of dark mages devoted to him attempted to resurrect his body, but they were stopped by mages who had fought alongside Marth in the war, along with Arlen, Feena, and Michalis. However, Arlen had been through a situation similar to Gharnef's - Wendell had ped Excalibur down to Merric instead of him - so Gharnef's spirit was able to sow the seeds of distrust in his mind. He would ultimately attempt to stage his own coup, but when it would fail, he'd join Merric in Marth's army. But eventually, an opportunity arose. Despite lacking a physical body, Gharnef was somehow able to pose as a merchant and give the Darksphere to Hardin, who was having marriage troulbes. In addition to turning the king invincible, the Darksphere corrupted Hardin, and over time, he fell so far that he waged another war. With the war as a backdrop, Gharnef was able to put his new plan into motion. This time, he didn't care about conquest, though. No, this time, he only wanted destruction. Mystery of the Emblem Now recognizing Marth as a serious threat to his plans, Gharnef ordered his ins to kill both the prince and any allies from the first war. When this failed, and all of the ins save a lone traitor died, he reversed the leader's brainwashing so that he could laugh at her while she realized what she'd done in her final moments. Anyway, his plan worked pretty well. Hardin caused untold devastation during his war. Even better, it all served as a distraction. He kidnapped four clerics (Lena, Maria, Elice, and Nyna) while everyone else was distracted with the war so that he could resurrect Medeus. However, the resurrection wasn't yet complete when Marth put his best friend Hardin down, and with the Shield of Seals (better known as the Fire Emblem), he dispelled an illusion and realized that Gharnef still had the clerics. Marth's army continued on to stop Gharnef. However, what they didn't know was that Gharnef had also taken possession of Starlight to ensure that nothing could stop him. Michalis, who survived the first war for some reason and went on a redemption quest even though he's one of the most evil, irredeemable characters in the series, stole the Starlight tome from Gharnef at the cost of his own life... in the original. In the remake (which Awakening canonized), he was healed, got to live, and ended up going on to continue his conquests. yeah. With the Starlight tome, Marth's army was able to defeat Gharnef once more. However, this time, Gharnef was ecstatic. If he couldn't have the world, he was going to destroy it. Medeus' resurrection was interrupted, but by this point, what had once been a normal Earth Dragon now became the demonic Shadow Dragon. However, in the end, Medeus was killed permanently, Gharnef didn't revive again, and the land of Archanea saw peace under its new hero-king forever... or at least, until Grima (no relation even though Gharnef was in the same area and could've reasonably found and used the creation) showed up 1,000 years later. Awakening Although Gharnef doesn't actually show up, Validar is clearly based on him. Of course, Validar's far inferior. Additionally, Marth remains a household name to this day all because of Gharnef's work. Oh, and technology's somehow regressed in the 2,000 year gap, so it can be umed that Gharnef had a part to play there as well. He shows up as an Einherjar card in some of the DLC maps, where he acts smug as ever. In one, Tiki realizes that she has to work with him, which he loves every bit of. In another, he attempts to get Nowi to come to his side, but she, apparently having heard this before, sarcastically asks if he's gonna offer her candy too. Nowi was a mistake. Tokyo Mirage Sessions ♯FE Gharnef apparently does stuff int this game, but the writer hasn't played it. Still, the idea of Gharnef being in an idol game is pretty great, so maybe this section will be updated someday. Fire Emblem Warriors Gharnef appears as a boss NPC in Warriors. He's one of only five Shadow Dragon characters in the entire game. That's right, Awakening has more playable characters than Shadow Dragon has characters total. Anyway, he barely even does anything in story mode. He's just an obstacle with his clone gimmick. Although at least History Mode got him right. And he has a pretty cool voice, too. Why Gharnef is the Best Villain in the Series If the above sections weren't clear enough, Gharnef is the best most effective villain, bar none. Let's see how... *He has a spell that makes him invincible. *After attaining this spell, he killed his rival and took over the country. *He's put down every single rebellion ever, to the point that the first thing any villager will tell you is not to bother trying. *He had a brainwashed Divine Dragon guard one of the components necessary to get past this spell and had no idea that a strong bond could break through the brainwashing (one of only two mistakes, each minor, he ever made). *He kidnapped someone who could wield the Aum Staff in case he'd need to resurrect anyone important, potentially including Medeus. *He took the Falchion himself so that he would be able to slay Medeus at the end of the war. With Imhullu, Medeus would've been unable to harm him. *He united a continent all because he knew that either the leaders who threatened him would die during the ensuing war, or he'd have an alliance that would be much easier to take control of. *He stopped pursuing Marth while invincible because it was a waste of his time. ''(As it turns out, this was his only other mistake.) *He successfully manipulated Marth into killing Camus and Michalis, two who would've opposed him, and gathering other weapons that could help him kill Medeus. *Even when Marth showed up at his doorstep with the spell that could kill him, he created clones that held fake Falchions as a diversion. *Even when he died, he still had a backup plan and survived. *Losing his body ended up making him stronger since he was able to directly influence others now, including Hardin, Arlen, and Eremiya. *Oh yeah, Eremiya? Turns out he created a guild of isn several years back ''just in case, and these ins nearly killed Marth and other companions. *He orchestrated a war even worse than the first just as a distraction ''so that he could resurrect Medeus again. Oh, and he did all of this ''while dead. *This time, he personally stole Starlight so that he would be invincible. *He didn't even make a mistake in the second war. The only things that went wrong were that Marth got the full Shield of Seals and that Michalis somehow survived and was able to hold out just long enough to get Marth Starlight. *Gharnef is the one character in the entire game who can scare Kris. Scene 2.PNG Scene 3.PNG Scene 4.PNG Scene 5.PNG *Even when dying, he laughed because Medeus was more powerful than ever, and all he cared about at this point was destruction. *Even though Medeus died, the war had a terrible result. Many left, never to be seen again, the entire continent was devastated, and Marth had lost one of his closest friends. *Even then, 2,000 years later, Altea's gone. It's just a desert now. Gharnef may not have had anything to do with it, but it still shows that Marth's legacy only goes so far. So yeah, Gharnef actively took every step necessary to win, and each time he failed, it was due to things beyond his control. Even then, he actively worked to prevent what happened the first time from happening again when he came back as a spirit, and in the first game, he can straight-up escape if you've messed up, at which point there'll be no point in chasing him because he's still invincible with Imhullu. Was any other villain (Corrin aside) remotely successful? Ashnard, maybe, come Radiant Dawn, and Walhart, possibly, depending on how you look at it. But Gharnef got everything he wanted, was intelligent enough to do whatever it took to remain unstoppable, and still succeeded, even if he didn't cause the complete destruction of the world. But if it means anything, that did eventually happen in the original timeline with Grima some 2,000 years later, so even then, you can say he got what he wanted. Oh, and even if he's dead and alludes to hell, Awakening and Fates imply that the afterlife is bliss for all, good or bad, so he died laughing and believing that he'd succeeded, and he never faced punishment. Gharnef's truly one of the most effective villains in the series, if not gaming in general. Archetype Comparisons Let's look at Gharnef next to the rest of the archetype members in the (localized) games. *Jedah - He's actually pretty good. He genuinely believes that what he's doing is a good thing, and he explains why, unlike most. Gharnef's better sheerly by how evil he is and how much he enjoys it, but Jedah's probably a close second. *Nergal - Eh. Got a good backstory, but in the game proper, he's pretty uninteresting. *Lyon - Well, he is a fan favorite, so I'll give him that, but he's still a pretty terrible schemer. I mean, part of his plan to destroy all of the stones involves asking nicely, and another is mounting an invasion after Grado's already lost the war. *Would Radiant Dawn's penultimate boss count? He's pretty cool and, like Hetzel and Camus, has some parallels with the final boss and Gharnef and Medeus, but they're entirely different characters, and even how they go about their huge, successful plans is different. *Validar's a joke. *We don't talk about Iago. Trivia * You can't win against Gharnef. *He also DMs in D&D. Category:Fire Emblem Characters Category:Fire Emblem Characters not from Awakening Category:Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon Characters Category:Fire Emblem Archanea Characters Category:Bad Characters Category:Tokyo Mirage Sessions ♯FE Characters Category:Fire Emblem Warriors Characters Category:Mages